


Little Do You Know

by Chellacat, JamesBestGirl



Series: We'll Meet Again [4]
Category: Hackers (1995), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Revolution (TV), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Absent Parents, Alpha Peter Parker, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, And educate yourselves, Angst, Boardering On Crack, Everyone is related, F/M, Fluff, Foster Care, Happy Hogan Tries His Best, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, If you don't know what ABO is leave now, Inacurate Science, Irondad, It Will Be Fun You'll See, It Will Fun They Said, Kidnapping, Mad Science, Multiple Crossovers, Omega Michelle Jones, Pack Family, Pepper Potts Is Such A Mom, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Darcy Lewis, Rescue, SCIENCE!, Side Story, Turning MCU Into Daytime Soap Opera, Unreliable Narrator, Write A Fic They Said, before you read, everyone has a tragic backstory, everything is connected, i have, just go with it, no really, part of a series, really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 01:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17376578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chellacat/pseuds/Chellacat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamesBestGirl/pseuds/JamesBestGirl
Summary: What Peter Parker has been up to in the time between Homecoming and We'll Meet Again (Don't Know Where, Don't Know When).Mystery, kidnapping and a whole lot of fluff and Hurt/Comfort.





	Little Do You Know

**Author's Note:**

> This is not by any means part two of We'll Meet Again, this is just a little Peter Parker fic filling in the missing time between homecoming and where he comes in in part two (Seven Devils). This is just a side story and doesn't need to be read for Seven Devils to make sense. 
> 
> Thank you to my amazing Co-Writer Chellacat who has put up with my 3am bursts of inspiration and my last minute rage when I go through an older draft instead of the final one before posting.

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn't have it._

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it._

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it._

Tony’s words rang through Peters head over and over again. He looked into the water in defeat, no one was coming to save him. Why did he do this? Why would he go after the Vulture when Tony had told him not to?  He had been so stupid. Tony was the closest thing he had to a father figure in his life since Uncle Ben had died, and he had failed him.

 

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it._

 

“Be the friendly neighborhood Spider-man, look out for the little guy”, that’s all he had to do.  Such a simple task, yet here he was trapped under a building because he actually thought he could stop the Vulture on his own.  He didn’t even have the suit Tony had made for him.

 

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it._

 

He felt a sudden powerful surge of determination bubble up within him. No.  There was no way he was ever going to fail someone again, he couldn’t. He had to make it out of this alive.

 

_And if you died, I feel like that’s on me._

 

The thought of Mr Stark blaming himself for his own stubborn mistake filled Peter with guilt. He couldn’t let Tony live with that guilt, none of this was his fault.  Peter knew what it was like to live like that, it was soul crushing to blame yourself for other people’s deaths.  It was ironic that it was in this moment, when Peter himself was closest to death, that he finally understood that it hadn’t been his fault Uncle Ben had died.  It was a choice.  A choice Ben had made to put himself between Peter and that bullet, because that was what you did for those you loved.  You put your own life on the line so they didn’t have to.  He couldn’t let this be his end, not just for himself, but for everyone who cared about him, for those who would make that same choice, to lay down their lives to protect him.

 

“Come on Peter.” He whispered, moving to try and lift the rubble again. “Come on Spider-man.” Peter started to lift it again, giving it one last try, he could do this. “Come on Spider-man. Come on Spider-man.” Pain shot through his body as every muscle tore and re-stitched itself at the same time. “Come on Spider-man" He screamed out in pain as he began to sit up, everything hurt. It felt like  he was on fire.

 

_If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it._

 

He was beginning to stand up now.

 

_And if you died, I feel like that’s on me._

 

He was going to make it out of this alive. He was stronger than he had ever been.  He felt a sudden sense of surety in himself that he had lacked, well up as he lifted.   His senses all went into overdrive as he finally began to push the rubble off of himself, rolling the ventilation system on its side.  This was another change, something new.  It was so very different from what had happened when the spider bit him.  It felt right, like it was a part of him that had just been sleeping finally waking up.  His sense of smell was through the roof and his hearing sharper than ever.  He even felt stronger, more coordinated as he drew himself to his feet.  He was free, the words stopped ringing in his head. He was free…  He wasn’t alone in his head anymore…  What?  The alien feeling of this other part of his own mind receded just as quickly as it came.  Surprised understanding grew in his mind as he processed what he was actually experiencing.  He was Alpha.  Shaking the revelation off he glared in the direction of Stark Tower.  He had a mission to complete before anything else.  He had proved that he was something without the suit, he had survived. And now there was only one thing left to do. He had to save Mr Stark's tech.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Peter stared at the suit in front of him in awe, it looked so similar to one of the Iron Man suits but slimmer and in his very own red and blue and it was his, he was going to be an Avenger. Live at the compound and fight the big battles yet, something didn’t feel quite right. As much as he wanted this, something was telling him it wasn’t time, he still had smaller battles to fight and a teenage life to live. Peter turned back round to face Mr Stark, quickly stealing one last glance at the suit he wasn’t ready for yet.

 

“Thank you Mr Stark, but I, I’m good.” He said confidently, not an ounce of regret in his voice, this was the right thing to do, in fact this was probably another test.

 

“You’re good. How are you good?” Tony sounded surprised, confusion flooded his face

 

“Well I- I mean, I would rather just stay on the ground for a little while, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" Peter took a breath before continuing, he had to convince Mr Stark that he was making this decision for the right reasons.

 

“You know, somebody’s gotta look out for the little guy right”

 

It was a question but the way he said it, it became a statement, a sense of pride on Peter’s part, he was the one looking out for the little guy. Tony- Mr Stark took off his glasses before giving Peter a questioning stare.

 

“You turning me down? Gotta think about this, look at that”

 

He pointed back over to the suit, it was definitely something, but this was still the decision he had to make, he would get the suit eventually, he just had to take the long way around, he wouldn't learn anything from taking a short cut. There was so much more to learn.

 

“Look at me. Last chance, yes or no?” To- Mr Stark asked again.

 

“No”

 

“Okay, it’s kind of a spring, steamy, working class hero vibe that I dig. Happy will take you home... Yea" Tony said, a small tinge of disappointment in his voice and scent. Peter focused on it, because it wasn’t the usual type of disappointment, it was as if Mr Stark had been really looking forward to him joining the team. Peter must have spaced out because before he knew it he had said thank you again and was on his way, walking out. He had to know.

 

“That was a test right?” Uncertainty filled his voice.  “There’s uh, nobody back there.” Mr Stark smiled a tiny proud smile concealed on his face.

 

“Yes, you passed. Alright skedaddle there, young buck.”

 

“Thank you Mr Stark, Thank you.” Walking away Peter decided it was best to take his word for it and ignore the sound of the reporters behind the door.  One day he’d be where Mr Stark wanted, but it wasn’t today.  First he had to figure out who he was.  Not without the suit, he understood that now.  No, he had to figure out who he was, because one thing was certain.  Richard Parker could not be his father.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait so you just said no?” Ned asked.

 

A lot had happened since that day at the compound two months prior. Aunt May had found out he was Spider-Man, things had just gotten worse after that. She kicked him out after she caught him sneaking out to go be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, despite her telling him that part of his life was over. He ended up staying at Ned’s for the best part of a month before she finally called asking him to come back home and made it clear that she was only so upset because she was worried about him, she didn’t need him getting himself killed. Peter had thought about going to talk to Ton- Mr Stark but decided not to because he wasn’t his problem to deal with, although he figured he was going to have to talk to him at some point.

Bruce had texted him to see when he was going to be back at the lab to work on a new web fluid together so, he decided that he would head to the tower after school. They were so close to figuring out a new chemical bonding agent that would strengthen the tensile density of his webs while making the filament even thinner, which would mean being able to store nearly three times as much webbing in his gauntlets than before.  It was going to be awesome.  He realized his thoughts had gotten away from him again as Ned’s curious face came back into focus, the boy waiting patiently for Peter to answer.

 

“Well, yea. I just, I’m not ready yet, there’s more I need to do. So, I’m just gonna stay on the ground for a little bit.” Peter spoke, pulling out the books for his next class. Ned sighed shaking his head.

 

“All you could talk about was being an Avenger and you decided against it... Well, that must have taken some amount of strength.” Ned took a breath, as though he were going to say something but decided against it and nodded towards the person coming towards the pair, MJ.

Peter was sure MJ knew or at the very least suspected that he was Spider-Man, but she hadn’t said anything yet. He could tell from the questions she asked him, the one that stuck with him the most was what she had said the day he went to the compound; “What are you hiding Peter?”. He actually kind of wanted to tell her, he knew he could trust her, but he didn’t want to put her in danger because she knew, she didn’t need that target on her back.

“Hey” Peter said.  MJ was carrying about 8 books and he could see she was clearly struggling, one began to fall off the top and before he even knew it, he had caught it and his books where all in his other hand.

 

 MJ’s eyes were wide, What. The. Fuck? How was he holding all that in one hand? Sure, she noticed that he had worked out a bit over the summer so obviously he was stronger, but this shit was next level.  The way he had moved, all grace and fluidity?  Peter had changed, fundamentally changed on a level she hadn’t been anticipating.  There were things she suspected with almost certainty about Peter, the sudden show of strength and dexterity all but confirming it.   But this was something else.

Before homecoming he had still moved with the uncertain coordination of a normal teenage boy unsure of himself and his place in the world.  Now he moved like a designate.  Designates always knew who they were, that type of self-assurance couldn't be faked or taught to teens.  But it was impossible, right?  She had thought that Peter’s parents were both normal?

 

Peter went to put the book back on top of the stack when he paused looking at her, she was clearly struggling and he did have a free hand.

 

“Want me to carry some of those for you?” He asked.

 

Ned was in shock, Spider-Man explained the strength, but he was usually much more careful about showing it off, in fact he remembered a couple weeks ago Peter deliberately dropped his stack of books so it wouldn’t look like he had superhuman strength, because people were pointing out that he was holding around 15 books.

 

“No, I’ve, I got it.” MJ replied before another book began to fall. Fuck. Really?  Right now, is when I need to be clumsy?  She sighed in frustration. Peter caught the other book and looked up at her, obviously deciding not to listen to her because she was clearly struggling.  He took all her books but one and had a stack balancing easily in each hand, before thrusting the new stack under his arm using his now free hand to very gently lead her along, hovering just above the small of her back.

 

“It’s fine, I’ve got them now anyway. Where are you just now?” Peter asked her.

 

MJ was still in shock, if she thought his last move was next level, This, was just fucking insane and impossible, unless, no he couldn’t be, could he? Presenting as an Alpha wasn’t a common thing, presenting so young was even less common, and presenting when both of your parents were baseline human was impossible.  You couldn’t present as something if that was the case, the genes just weren’t in your favour. But he was sending all the body language signals that showed exactly that, Alpha.   He’d taken control of their whole interaction from the start today, then just jumped in to help her like it was his place, his job.   But it had to be something else, right?  Maybe that work out _was_ really paying off.  MJ tried to convince herself that she hadn’t just seen and experienced what she had, it would change everything.  Her thoughts were cut off when Ned began to speak.

 

“So that exercise regime really does work” Ned said nodding his head in nervous approval.

 

He really wasn’t convincing anyone with that lame attempt at a cover up MJ thought a little uncharitably. 

 

Peter looked at him with confusion for a split second before registering what he was saying, his eyes going wide and a tiny blush creeping into his cheeks.

 

“Yea I guess, been working at it for a while now so yea” Peter finally stuttered now he understood what Ned was on about, he shouldn’t be able to hold all these books, shit. It was too late now. “Yeah so, your in...?” He asked again.

 

“Chem with you. Thought you had learnt your schedule by now Peter.” MJ informed him dryly.

 

They walked to class with a small buzz of conversation as the warning bell went. MJ made it to their class but before she could get her books, Peter was already at her desk putting them down.

 

“Thanks” She said, a small frown creasing her brow as she continued to figure out what was going on with the once completely unremarkable Peter Parker.

 

Peter smiled at her and made his way to sit down at his seat at the back of the class.

 

Confused was not the word MJ would have used in this situation, she was so far from confused that she couldn’t even think of a word that could do how she felt justice. Had she really just let Peter do that? Since when did she need help from anyone, let alone Peter Parker?  The boy who just over a year ago could barely manage to carry his own small abundance of books, let alone the stack of them he carries now. Yet something about the whole interaction felt, it just felt right. It was both alien and familiar all at once, and for some explainable reason she wanted it to happen again, even though she hated to admit it, it was if for a brief moment everything clicked into place and made sense, then it was gone as fast as it had come.

 

* * *

 

 

December 2017

 

“Hey Jarvis” Peter said as he entered the elevator at Stark Tower.

 

“Good afternoon young sir. Dr Banner is waiting for you in the labs, shall I take you up to him?” The AI asked.

 

Unlike most people Peter quickly got used to Jarvis and had eagerly begun to form a friendship with him. Peter had found out quite early on that Jarvis was in fact a he after asking him about his preferred pronouns. Peter had been fascinated with the AI and had been so curious about how Jarvis viewed himself.  Jarvis had explained to Peter that when Mr Stark had created him, he had asked him if he had a gender and from then on Jarvis had been a he.  That Jarvis had such input into his own programing was also incredible, the AI didn’t just learn, he had reached a point where he could make decisions for himself, he was the first sentient AI on the planet.  Peter wasn’t unaware of just how important that was or just how much trust both Tony and Jarvis had shown him by answering so many of questions so honestly.  Peter tried not to think too hard on what would happen if it become common knowledge, but he knew it would be nothing good.

 

“Yea, that would be great Jarvis thanks” Peter replied cheerfully.

 

“Of course Master Peter.”  The next few minutes consisted of Peter and Jarvis catching up with each other.  Jarvis really did like Master Peter very much.

 

The labs had to be one of Peters favourite places in the Tower, they were all a different size ranging from the size of a school classroom to the size of May’s whole apartment. It gave him a place to science with other people that loved it as much as he did, it also gave him an excuse to spend some time with Mr Stark. He tried not to think about that too much.  He had had the biggest case of hero worship ever on Iron Man when he was a kid and now that he was older and enjoyed creating things he had it even worse.  Tony Stark was a once in a generation genius, sometimes it felt that just being in his presence made him smarter.  It didn’t hurt the Tony was also the coolest person he had ever known in his life and didn’t treat Peter like a kid, but like another scientist when they were messing about with tech.  it was so nice just to be a part of something like that and feel like he was almost an equal. 

 

When Peter walked into the lab Bruce was hunched over at a desk working on some equations, through the wall he could see Dr Foster and Darcy working on something that ended with Darcy’s hair standing on end and Jane apologising.

 

“Hey Bruce” Peter said dropping his bag by his usual work space and walking over to him. Bruce looked up and smiled.

 

“Peter, hey! I haven’t seen you around her for a few months, where have you been?” He asked. Peter sighed.

 

“Just been busy with Spider-Man stuff and some stuff happened with May but I’m just glad to be back, we were so close to figuring out the new chemical bonding process I really am sorry if my being here is holding you up Dr Banner.” Peter said, his voice dragging off a bit when mentioning May. Bruce looked at him quizzically, as though he was debating whether or not to ask him about it or not.

 

“We’re not behind, I’ve run some simulations and have a few new tests running, just grunt work mainly, you haven’t missed anything exciting.  But what happened with May? Is she okay?” Bruce asked, a frown crinkling his brow as a tendril of protective scent hit Peters nose.

 

“She’s fine, nothing happened to her, she just- umm- she found out about Spider-Man and well, she didn’t take it well.” Peter’s voice got quieter towards the end, this wasn’t Bruce’s problem he should have just shut up about it. He reined in his own scent response as hard as he could.  He’d been practicing not letting his instincts get the better of him.  Control was key with instincts, at least that was what it said in the leaflet he had picked up from the Designate center a few weeks back.

 

“Oh. Well, is everything okay now?” Bruce’s now blatantly curious concern hit Peter like a ton of bricks.

 

“I- Yeah it is” He lied, he didn’t know if it was, honestly, things between him and May were worse than ever and half the time he didn’t even go home. He doubted May even noticed anymore and if she did, she didn't say anything about it. He spent most of his time floating between staying at Ned’s and just staying out all night being Spider-Man. He could count on less than two hands the number of times he had really talked to May in the last month.

 

“Okay, if you ever wanna talk about it, you know that I’m here and so is Tony” Bruce said trying to comfort the young Spiderling not buying the flimsy lie for a minute.  He privately resolved to bring it up with Tony the next time he saw him, just to be sure.

 

“How about you get some of these simulations running while I go retrieve our prototypes from containment” Bruce continued, handing Peter the HLI control band and gesturing to the holographic interface area. 

 

Peter bounced on his toes as he took the band with a look of awe.  They had never let him play with it before, this was going to be epic!  The next few hours were the best fun he had had in months.  Even Doctor Foster had floated through at one-point quizzing Peter on what they were working on as Bruce carefully encouraged him to answer and explain.  The thrill of discussing theories and bouncing ideas off of the two world renowned scientists was overwhelming.  They never made him feel left out of the conversation and anything he didn’t understand was patiently explained fully, both wanting to make sure he understood completely, before they moved on, expecting Peter to keep up with the discussion and teasing him with good humour every time he came up with something new.  It was good to feel wanted and respected.  It was better than good, he felt like he belonged.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Peter can remember the day he met Darcy vividly. She was the first person other than Tony to find out that he was Spider-Man. He had been in Tony’s workshop, in his suit working on the web shooters after they had gotten clogged up during a fight.

 

_Peter stopped dead, someone was coming. He could hear soft footsteps coming towards him, he convinced himself that it was Mr Stark and continued to toy with his web shooters. He had a screwdriver stuck in it, attached to the web fluid that was clogging up the dispenser. The footsteps were about a meter away when they stopped suddenly, and a phone began to ring. A bright bubbly female voice spoke up from the hallway._

_“Jane, I haven’t forgotten what it is... I know that it is important to get the right one... Yes, I’m not going to Tony’s workshop to get it... Yes, I am lying... It’s so much easier to get it from there... C’mon storage is six floors down... It’s three in the morning Janey, he won’t be there... Yes, I know the madman stays up later than this but he’s not there... He went to the penthouse half an hour ago... I asked Jarvis.... Bye” The woman’s voice echoed through the lab, Peter was frozen still, before springing on to the ceiling as she came to the last corner before the lab.  Glued to the ceiling, he realised that he didn’t have his mask on. Then in walked in a short brown-haired girl, she rummaged around for a bit before turning to look around._

_Darcy knew someone was there she could sense it, someone was watching her. Ignoring it after finding nothing she went back to trying to find a hand-held Mass spectrometer._

_“Ah-ha” She sighed pulling it out from under a pile of loose parts. Something was off, there was definitely someone watching her, she walked towards the door and stopped halfway there, looking around again, it was like her senses were going haywire, someone was definitely watching her._

_“Tony, I swear to Thor if you’ve got some camera watching me right now, I will kill one of your bots.”_

 

_There was no reply, so it wasn’t Tony, usually the threat of killing DUM-E was enough to get him or Jarvis to tell her what was going on. Shaking her head, she walked to the door stopping before she left, taking one last look around, nope, nothing, nada, zilch, zero, there was no one there. With that she was gone._

 

_Peter sighed in relief, that was close, too close. He had to be more careful about coming here, there were too many people that could find out, he thought as he began to relax._

_“AH-HA! I knew there was someone watching me” Darcy squealed as she pointed at Peter. Fuck. She found him. Where the heck had she come from?_

_“I- umm I- You didn’t see me. Please don’t- shit.” Peter sighed in frustration as the girl smirked smugly at him. Leaping down from the ceiling he looked at her upright, she was a lot shorter than him, but he could see she had a fire to her._

_“Sorry to interrupt, Miss Lewis but it appears Sir has been alerted of the current situation.” Jarvis said._

_“Okay thanks J” She replied. “Shit, now he knows I’m here, honestly, scientists are so clingy with their machines and are completely incapable of sharing.” She sighed in frustration. She might as well stay and see what’s gonna happen with this kid- wait that’s Spider-Man, The Spider-Man, Queens resident superhero. But he’s a kid, he must be like 14._

_Peter stood there awkwardly looking at her, Miss Lewis? He recognized that name. Before he could think any more about it, Tony was walking in, half asleep._

_“Kid, you had one job, wear your mask, one job.” His eyes were still shut, had even opened them since he woke up? “So who do I need to get to sign an NDA?” Tony opened his eyes and looked at the sight before him. Peter looked freaked out and Darcy... Darcy had his Mass spectrometer. No fucking way._

_“Hey Tony” Darcy spoke, giving him a small wave._

_“Darcy, seriously I leave the kid in here, safe and sound and you need to scare the crap out of him. What she did she do? Poke you with a stick?” Tony directed his question at Peter. Peter looked down at his feet before responding._

_“I, umm, I heard her coming so I flew to the ceiling and hung out there for a bit while she was looking around and she kept look for me” Peter stopped before beginning to laugh “She thought you had a camera on her and threatened to kill one of your bots-” Before Peter could finish, Tony gasped in shock._

_“You threatened to kill DUM-E... again?” He brought his hand up to cover his heart. “What have I told you two about playing nice” Tony smirked, Darcy glared, and Peter decided to continue._

_“So, she walked out and I thought she hadn’t seen me when she sprang in, shouting and pointing at me.” Peter said, looking over at Darcy and back to Tony. Tony’s hand was now pinching the bridge of his nose._

_“So, just to make it clear she didn’t try to prod you with a stick? Didn’t try to hit you with a broom? Because I’ve seen her do that before, not a pretty sight. She was screaming and I swear so was the spider, it was horrific.” He said, leaning against a table._

_Darcy was beyond done, she came here for a Masspec thingy, not an NDA and a reminder of that evil fucking spider, that thing was huge and was threatening to fall into the cake batter. Before she could even think she had grabbed Peter’s web shooter and shot at Tony, his hand was now webbed to the desk and his feet webbed to the ground. The room went silent before she burst out in a fit of laughter as Tony struggled to move, she passed the web shooter back to the kid and turned to him._

_“So kid, what’s your name?” Darcy asked, Peter looked over at Tony, frustrated he took a moment to nod._

_“Peter Parker” Peter said, a small smile on his lips._

_“You’re the one that complimented Winter’s arm in the middle of a battle, like I get it, but really? At least know how to turn your comms off before you do that” She laughed. Peter’s face went beetroot, his comms were on?_

_“Darcy Lewis” She said holding her hand out. Peter shook it. “So, where can I get myself a set of these” She laughed. Peter laughed in return along with Tony, although Tony’s was slightly pained._

_“I’m cursed, I have to be. You’ve known each other for two minutes and you are already working against me.”_

_“So, Darcy can know then? Will she need to sign an NDA?” Peter asked. Tony smiled at the pair of them._

_“Yea she can know, she’s the closest thing I have to a daughter, you can trust her, she knows all about a blind guy in Hells Kitchen and so far she hasn’t spoken a word about it.” Tony’s voice was softer than usual, this was a side to Tony he had only seen once, when he was hurt during the Civil War._

_“Dude!” Darcy said throwing a pillow at him from the couch, her aim was perfect and since Tony couldn’t move she hit her target._

_“How about we go back to my lab and sort out that problem there” She said nodding towards the screwdriver that was still stuck in his web shooter. Peter looked over at Tony and back again. “Don’t worry about him, he had it coming. Come on Peter” She said walking him out._

_“Darce, you can’t just leave me here... Darcy.”_

_“Bye Tony” Darcy said shutting the door behind them._

_“Pep is going to kill me”_

Yea that was something that stuck with someone. He had only seen Darcy a handful of times since then, usually because she was working with Bruce when he would turn up and would volunteer to help them out because she had some free time, but for some reason he always felt comfortable around her and the bubbly atmosphere she evoked. He felt that he could trust and confide in her.

 

* * *

 

 

December 24th 2017

 

“What are we watching?” Ned asked as he sat down on the couch. They had ended up going with ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ because it was MJ’s turn to pick first, they were spending Christmas Eve at her house, and she had said it is the least corny Christmas movie with an actual point to it.

 

“It’s A Wonderful Life” Peter said handing Ned the bowl of popcorn.

 

“Are we doing presents now or later?” Ned asked Peter, Peter looked at MJ to see what she thought. After she had nodded the three started digging through their bags.

 

“Peter this is for you.” Ned passed Peter a small box, he opened it to reveal a paired set of Iron Man and Spider-Man Lego Brickheadz. He burst out laughing. MJ smiled at the pair, as they threw a few words back and forth, she was completely lost on what they were saying, but they both looked happy so that was a good thing. She hadn’t seen Peter laugh properly in months, it had seemed a bit put on before but this, this was real. After a few minutes they managed to collect themselves enough to continuing handing out the presents.

 

“This is for you MJ” Ned said giving her a book shaped present. MJ quickly opened it, with very little shredding and found that it was the Divergent trilogy. MJ smiled looking at Ned

 

“Thanks Ned, I haven’t read these yet” She spoke, handing a present each to the pair in front of her. Ned had is open and was staring at it I awe in under 20 seconds.

 

“A Death Star Escape Lego set” Ned said looking over at MJ.

 

“I figured it would go in tandem with you Lego Death Star.” She smiled looking over at Peter as he opened his present, not really hearing what Ned had said back, she just nodded and smiled. Peter opened the present with care, as though it would break if he wasn’t careful, for all he knew it would. When he finally opened it, it contained a t-shirt and a jumper. The t-shirt was a faded red colour and said, ‘I love Iron Man!’ with an arc reactor towards the middle, and the jumper was black with the stark industries logo plastered over the chest. Peter looked at MJ with a huge smile on his face, trying to find something to say.

 

“I figured with the internship it was about time you got a company jumper, and well, you can’t shut up about Iron Man so...” She smiled. Peter nodded looking over at Ned who was as shocked as him.

 

“Thank you MJ, this is amazing!” He replied, pulling the jumper over his head. It was so soft inside. How had she managed to get this? You couldn’t exactly order them online.

 

“These are for you guys.” Peter said passing them to the pair.

 

Ned opened his in less than a second and found a Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter Lego set. He grinned at Peter muttering a few words of thanks, as they waited for MJ to finish opening her present. She smiled looking over at Peter and the knowing look on his face. She took her time taking off the bow, deciding to keep the ribbon before tearing into the wrapping paper. She looked wide eyed at the pair of books in front of her. How could he have known?

 

“How did you know I wanted these, Peter?” She asked holding up ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Homo Deus’. Peter grinned, he had seen her reading list a couple of months back, those two were underlined and in bold in a different coloured pen, blue instead of her usual red, he figured she must have really been looking forward to reading them and made a mental note to get them for her if she didn’t have them by Christmas.

 

“Lucky guess?” He said with a sheepish laugh, chewing at his lip. MJ smiled and practically flew towards him, hugging him tightly.

 

“Thank you so, so much, I’ve really been looking forward to reading them” She exclaimed before letting go and smiling at him. He smiled back, feeling for the first time in last few months at peace and happy, Spider-Man wouldn’t need to be out until after Christmas, things with Aunt May had calmed down and he was still on top of all his school work. They settled down to watch the movie, MJ sat on the couch with her legs tucked under her, Ned sat next to her and Peter sat in front of MJ on the floor, leaning back against the couch.

They sat like that for the rest of the day, watching more Christmas movies than seemed possible, Peter always giving his turn to pick to MJ because he didn’t mind what they watched. As it got closer to time to leave Peter began to fidget more, slightly twisting the tips of his fingers and changing how he was sitting every ten minutes. Ned left first, leaving Peter and MJ to watch the end of Ned’s pick, Love Actually, together. Peter listened to MJ’s breathing as it evened out and she fell asleep, he smiled just listening to her breathing and her heartbeat. For once everyone was safe and happy, No big bad to fight, no Aunt May breathing down his neck, or shouting at him for Spider-Man, just peace. The credits rolled and Peter turned off the TV picking up his jacket and putting it on, being careful not to wake MJ up. He went to the other side of the room and got his bag, fishing through it for a small box. He smiled at it deciding to leave it on the table for MJ. He had made it all the way to the door when he heard her wake up.

 

“You just gonna leave without saying goodbye Peter” MJ joked, although there was a hint of well disguised hurt in her tone.

 

She had stopped calling him names at some point over the last few months, she hadn’t even noticed until Ned had pointed it out one day. Gone were the days of calling him Loser or Parker, and honestly, she was happy about it. She and Peter had spent a lot more time together since Homecoming, she wasn’t sure why, but she always felt settled and safe when she was around him, it terrified her how right it felt.

 

“I, uh, I didn’t want to wake you up” He stopped looking over at the table before taking a breath and going to pick up the present. “I got you something else, I just, it’s uh, well... just open it” Peter said rubbing the back of his neck while he stumbled over his words and handed her the box, smiling sheepishly at her. MJ smiled, opening the box to find a beautiful necklace, no it wasn’t just a necklace, it was a locket. She looked up at him to find him chewing on his lip again.

 

“I remembered you talking about how you thought lockets were really cute and that you were thinking about getting one for yourself after you had finished reading one of your books. So, when I saw it a month ago, I just- I got it for you...” Peter trailed off at the end not quite meeting her eyes. MJ was absolutely lost in how she felt, she was drowning in surprised elation and other emotions she couldn’t quite explain.  She had talked about getting a locket over two years ago, long before she had become real friends with Peter and Ned, had he really remembered for that long? She had completely forgotten that she had even wanted one. She stood up from the couch and walked over to Peter wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him, she was greeted with strong arms that held her tightly.  

 

“Thank you so much Peter. This really does mean a lot to me, thank you” She mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.

 

Peter rested his head on top of hers, his arms loosening around her to just barely hold her. It felt like all the puzzle pieces were in place in that moment, it felt right, it almost felt like home. MJ pulled her head back looking into his deep blue eyes before resting her lips on his in a gentle kiss, lingering there before pulling back to look at Him, Peter’s eyes filled with warmth, it was almost as if the gold flecks had gotten brighter standing out against the Hazel. He smiled going to say something before his phone started going off. MJ pulled out of the hug and wrapped a blanket around her.

  
“Sorry, I- I have to go” Peter said, looking over at MJ who was nodding.

 

“It’s fine. May wants you back?” She asked.

 

“Something like that. Bye” Peter said quickly hugging her before he ran out the door.

 

MJ walked over to the window to wave goodbye. Had she really just done that? She and Peter were friends and she had kissed him. She had kissed him, and it felt right, it felt like everything was right and how it was meant to be. She shook her head deciding to think about this later, finishing the short walk to the window, she looked out and all the air left her body, her jaw going slack in shock. OH. MY. GOD. She watched wide eyed as Peter put on a fucking Spider-Man suit, he pulled the mask on and turned back to look at the house and his spider eyes widening in shock, it looked like he was mouthing something before she heard police sirens and he was swinging off in their direction. She was going insane, nope this wasn’t happening right now, Peter was Spider-Man. MJ had had her suspicions and sometimes she was even 99% sure, but actually finding out, it felt like it was hitting her out of nowhere. The warm, safe, right feeling she had felt a few minutes before was gone as she was flooded with anger and relief. Angry that he hadn’t told her and relieved that she finally knew why he had been so flakey recently, there was a point where she had considered that Peter was doing drugs and that was why he had quit all of the clubs he was a part of. MJ could only be sure of one thing in that moment, that Peter Parker was going to be telling her everything, whether he liked it or not.

 

* * *

 

 

Early morning December 25th 2017

 

MJ was curled up on the couch, facing the door. Her head was still spinning from finding out the news earlier on. She didn’t know how to feel, she was hurt that he didn’t trust her enough to tell her, hurt that he had been lying to her for over a year about why he couldn’t make team meetings and about why he had quit all of those clubs, hurt that he had been lying about the internship after all. She had left him a few voicemails telling him to come straight to hers when he was done ‘fighting crime’ and she had received a message from some Karen person saying he would be there. So here she was 3 in the morning waiting in her living room for him to show up, trying to figure out what to say. Her foster parents were stuck at work until the next morning, although she doubted that was the truth, so it was unlikely they would get caught. She hated that she had found out, they were all finally happy, she had found a pair of friends, the first people she had let get close to her since her parents had died. She and Peter were, well they were possibly going to be something and as much as the idea had terrified her it excited her. But now she couldn’t trust him, she could feel her walls going back and she was being confined within her fortress. She couldn’t get hurt again. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a knock at the door. Walking over to open it, she prepared herself as best she could for what was going to come next. She opened the door to a nervous, bloody Peter.

 

“Oh, my god. Are you okay?” She said letting him in, all the hurt and anger washing away when she saw him beaten and broken. She cast all the hurt aside and focused on helping him first.    She worked without thought and went to the kitchen getting warm salt water, cotton pads, bandages and antibiotic cream.  Peter was standing in the middle of the room when she came back through. She frowned looking at him, his mask was shredded in his hands and it looked like his suit had been burnt through.

 

“Sit down at the table.” MJ said tersely taking the supplies over.

 

“I’m sorry Michelle, I didn’t mean for you to find out like this.” Peter said, wincing at the pain he felt when he sat down. Her face was filled with concern at his flinch.  She quickly dipped the cotton pads in the water to start cleaning the gash on his face.

 

“You need to go to hospital Peter. What happened?” She asked.

 

Peter shook his head, he couldn’t go to the hospital even if he wanted to, Aunt May was there and she couldn’t see him like this.

 

“I’m fine, I don’t need a hospital, these will heal quickly.”  Peter stopped, taking a breath as the wound began to sting.  “When I left here, I was heading towards a burning apartment building a few blocks from where I stay. I went in and managed to get everyone out, but I was burning through the fireproof part of my suit. I thought everyone was out when I could hear a little girl crying on the fourth floor. I had run out of web fluid so, I climbed up the side of the building to get her. The support beams were coming down and a few landed on me so when I managed to get to her, before I could get to the window to climb down, everything collapsed under me. I jumped out the window and spun to land on my back when I hit the ground.” MJ looked horrified as Peter retold what happened, He had flung himself out of the fourth fucking floor, he shouldn’t be alive right now. She looked at him with worry, what if he hadn’t come back alive? She looked at him properly and could see the burned skin had already healed itself and the wound she had cleaned was almost completely closed.

 

Peter was angry with himself, MJ wasn’t meant to find out like this, she wasn’t meant to find out at all, all it would do it put her in danger. MJ leaned over and hugged Peter, careful not to hurt his bruised back any more. They sat like that for a while, neither of them willing to let go, feeling at peace in each other's arms, like nothing that had happened before had happened. Peter could feel MJ’s tears landing on his skin where the suit had ripped. He pulled her in tighter, no longer caring about the mild pain in his back because he had to comfort her. His right hand ended up at the base of her neck, lightly running his hand through her hair. 

 

“I’m sorry, I should have told you the truth.” Peter whispered into her hair. MJ finally looked up at him, searching for something to say.

 

“We can’t change that now” She said pausing, sitting back in her chair. “I want to know everything.” She continued and gave him a pointed glare. 

 

Peter nodded, she wanted the truth, he knew he could trust her, he felt like he could trust her with his life. He took a few minutes to change out of the suit and back into his street clothes before rejoining her in the living room. They had moved over to the couch now, getting comfortable because they both knew this was going to be a long story. Peter went on to explain everything from the day he got bit by that god damned spider right up until now. He explained about being recruited to help fight Cap in Germany, getting the ‘Stark Internship’. When she questioned if that was real, he explained that it was in a way, it consisted of being Spider-Man and working in the labs with Bruce and Tony. He told her about Aunt May finding out, about everything that happened with her, he could tell that May’s reaction made her angry, so he made sure to explain that things were better now, they had worked it out. He didn’t tell MJ about him presenting, he would but he had to find out what had happened with his parents first.

 

MJ was in awe, she was still kind of angry with him, but she was in awe. He had been the one doing all those things, saving all those people, saving their friends that day at the Washington monument, and through it all he had kept it a secret. He was selfless and used his powers for the right reason, not reacting to Flash when he was being a dick, even though Peter could so easily put him in his place. 

  
“Does Ned know?” She asked, he probably did but it was better to ask than assume.

 

“Yea, he was in my room when I came back from patrol one night, building the Death Star, so it wasn’t really my choice to tell but yea, he’s known since homecoming.” Peter said, nodding his head.

 

“Would you have told me if I hadn’t caught you?” She had to know, he had to have good reason for what he did.

 

“Maybe, in the future. It’s just too dangerous for people to know, I can’t risk getting you hurt, knowing puts a target on your back. If you got hurt, I would never forgive myself... I couldn’t lose you because of this.” Peter said, his head lowering to look at the ground, he may be a superhero, but he still has his weaknesses and over the last few months MJ had become his biggest one. The thought of her getting hurt made him want to curl up in a ball and die. He was so confused as to why he had grown so attached to her, none of it made sense, it had come out of nowhere. MJ nodded, she could see why it would have been difficult for him to tell her, she knew Peter he could feel guilty about the smallest things, if something happened to someone he cared about, he would carry that with him for the rest of his life. She moved up and curled up next to him, hugging him, resting her head on his chest.

 

“You’re not going to lose me” She said. They lay like that for hours. MJ fell asleep and Peter couldn’t bring himself to wake her so he stayed, holding onto her until sun light started flood through the windows, he knew her foster parents would be back soon, he had to go. He carefully moved himself out from under her and left her on the couch, putting a blanket over her. He quickly tidied up the stuff she had used to clean him up. Peter took one last look at her, she looked peaceful all the concern and trouble that had filled her face was gone as she slept. He tucked a note into her hand and left.

 

* * *

 

 

September 2018

 

Peter walked into school, feeling refreshed after having had the summer off. There had been less crime over the summer, so Spider-Man hadn’t come out much, leaving him with plenty of time to spend with Ned and MJ.

 

 _MJ,_ things had changed between them after she found out, it was if she had taken a step back. They were still friends and they hung out but she held herself at a distance emotionally. She was there for him when it came to Spider-Man.  On the nights that he would go to her because something had happened with May it almost seemed as though things had gone back to how they had been the night they kissed, but by the time the next day had come around they were back to this strange holding pattern. Close enough to be comfortable but not close enough for more than that.  He understood why, she didn’t know if she could trust him again yet, he had lied to her for months. He deserved what he was getting, but he missed her. They all still hung out together same as before but Ned didn’t know about what had happened, the locket, her finding out, it seemed pointless to tell him if they were going to pretend it never happened.

 

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, he got to his locker and noticed that neither Ned or MJ were about.  He sorted out his books and shut the locker, he felt a flicker of unease crawl up his spine, something was wrong. Ned and MJ were always here first since he didn’t usually show up until just before the first bell. He tried to listen for them focusing his senses but instead heard people talking about Flash.

 

He sighed, Flash was an Alpha now. If people thought things were bad with him before it was about to get all kinds of worse. Since they had returned to school Flash had been challenging anyone that had already presented in an effort to prove how strong he was.  Peter just stayed out of his way as much as he could.  He did not need that sort of confrontation.  Besides, the last thing he needed was people gossiping about his parents. 

 

Grabbing his books for his first class he headed towards MJ’s locker hoping to find her there. He felt the need to protect his friends grow stronger than ever the closer he came to the hallway where MJ’s locker stood.  He knew it was only a matter of time before Flash’s targeted his group of friends, but he had hoped it would take a bit longer. He turned the corner and stopped to take in the scene in front of him, he really wished he could have been surprised.  Instead irritation and frustration welled up at the sight.  MJ stood in a corner with Flash blocking her in, he could see that MJ was clearly furious, her lips a tight line across her face and her eyes flashing angrily.

 

“Flash I don’t want to date you, leave me alone” MJ said, trying to get away from him. Flash moved to block her way.

 

“Not so fast, you’re not telling me you’re with Parker, are you? You could do so much better than him”

 

Flash was getting closer to her. Peter could hear her heart speeding up in panic from where he was standing.  His books fell to the ground as he ran towards them, pulling Flash away from her and standing in front of her, shielding her from the other Alpha.

 

“She told you to leave her alone.” He could feel MJ slightly behind him as she grabbed a fist full of his shirt. Flash laughed.

 

“Get out my way Parker, I can do what I want. Haven’t you heard? I’m an Alpha now you’re just a Non, you couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

 

He reacted more on instinct than anything else then.  All thoughts of pretending to keep his cover left his mind.  There was only the arrogant bullying Alpha in front of him and the clearly upset female behind him.  Logical thoughts of MJ being perfectly capable of protecting herself had never reached his brain as he imposed himself between them.  The fist Flash swung towards him met his hand at the mid-point between them, the curl of satisfaction at the shock on his face was fleeting.  He twisted Flash’s hand and forced his arm behind him while using the momentum and force to bring the other boy to his knees.  Peter growled low as he pinned Flash to the ground and stepped deliberately inside his personal space, leaning down to his ear before speaking.

 

“Stay down Eugene.”  The scent of defiance and fear drifted up to him as Flash struggled to get out of his hold.  But just this once, Peter was not playing pretend.  He was an Alpha, Ned and MJ were _his_ friends, he wasn’t going to let anyone threaten them again.

 

“She said no.  If that isn’t clear enough, here it is from me.”  Peter’s voice reverberated down the hall finally letting everyone know just what he was and where he stood in the hierarchy of the schools unspoken pecking order.

 

“Stay the hell away from my friends Thompson or next time I’ll break it.”  He wrenched Flash’s arm a little more to the right and felt the sickening pop of the shoulder dislocating.  “Only Warning, do you understand?” He ground out.  The whimper and the desperate pleas as Flash whined and bared his neck had Peter stepping back in shock.   The silence in the hallway was deafening as he stood over Flash breathing deeply.   The circle of space around the two Alpha’s was wide, the students all quiet, eyes lowered as he looked around.  MJ was still clutching his shirt, her other hand now pressed between his shoulder blades.  In a rush his senses seemed to flood back to him.  He could hear her whispered words, asking him to back down, as he stood over his long time enemy.  Turning, he grabbed both their bags and ushered MJ out of the hall, walking towards the quad.  He was thankful she didn’t say anything.  Relief spread through him as he spotted Ned.  He handed MJ’s bag to him and left calling over his shoulder to make sure Ned would walk her to class.

 

Before he reached the outer doors the voice of his principal cut down the hallway.

 

“Parker.”  

 

Peter turned and cringed at Principal Morita’s stern face.  Just as he opened his mouth to try and explain the man held up his hand to stop him.

 

“Have you got someone to go to?”  Peter gaped in confusion.  He cast out with his senses and heard the nurse talking to Flash in the next corridor.  She didn’t sound very sympathetic.  Flash’s loud complaints had her telling him to be silent and that he was already in enough trouble with the Principal.  The stern man before him didn’t look angry though, concerned seemed closer.

 

“Yes, I know what happened Parker.”  he told him, almost like he had read his mind.

 

“I...  Yeah, there’s someone I can go to.”  Peter finally replied.

 

“Take the rest of the day then.  My office, tomorrow morning before classes, and bring an adult sponsor with you.”  he instructed him.  Peter nodded once in thanks and then turned to leave.   Once he was outside, he ran.

 

He ran without really knowing where he was running to before he found himself outside Stark Tower. He made his way to the underground parking garage and scanned his pass. From there he went to the only lift that had access to the penthouse.

 

“Jarvis, where is Tony?” Peter asked him, hoping he was in the tower, if he wasn’t Peter wasn’t entirely sure what his next move would be.

 

“He’s in the penthouse. Will I let him know you’re on your way up Young sir?” Jarvis asked.

 

“Yes, please” Peter replied. What was he going to say to Tony, _Hey I may have dislocated Flash’s arm at school, and broadcasted it to everyone I'm an Alpha._ Yea he was completely lost. The doors to the penthouse opened and Peter found Tony walking towards him, his sleepy eyes filled with panic.

 

“Hey kid, what’s wrong? Are you not meant to be in school right now? Jarvis said you were freaking out” Tony said with a quizzical tilt of his head. Was he really freaking out? Yea, he was, his heart was doing double time.

 

“I was at school and I- I dislocated Flash’s arm” Peter said, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “I saw him bother MJ and then I was pinning him to the ground, I don’t know what happened, it was like I went into autopilot. I- I didn’t mean to hurt him”

 

“Okay Peter. Sit down” Tony said pointing to the couch in front of the big TV. “Jarvis pull up any CCTV there is of the incident” Tony ordered as he went over to the kitchen and got a bottle of water for Peter.

 

They watched in silence as the footage played out for them.  Tony said nothing till it was done as Peter sat nervously.  Watching himself as he so casually dislocated the other boy’s shoulder was just a little unsettling but the persistent feeling that he had done the right thing rang truer with each moment that passed.  Flash was a threat to MJ, he had been fixated on her for a while and backing her into a corner like that and not letting her go or listening when she said no was completely out of line.   Tony clasped a comforting hand to his shoulder.

 

“Pete, you were totally in control of the situation.  You didn’t use any more force than necessary.  If you had lost control you could have broken that boy, ripped his arm off even.  The level of strength you have is off the scale.  This could have been much worse.  But you have to be honest with me here.  Did you mean to dislocate his shoulder?”

 

Peter hung his head.  He thought back to the moment it happened.  He had threatened to break Flash’s arm if he went after MJ again.  In that split second after he had threatened Flash, he had made the decision to dislocate his shoulder.  Words alone weren’t enough for some people, especially Alpha’s.  All his instincts told him that a physical warning and reminder would keep the other boy away and serve far better as a deterrent in the future.

 

“Yeah, I meant to.  He wasn’t going to stop.  I had to make a choice.  It was him or MJ’s safety.  I chose her.”

 

Tony looked at him seriously and nodded.

 

“Exactly.  You didn’t lose control Peter.  You took control.  Now all you have to do is maintain it.  You need to strut Peter.  You are an Alpha.  Even without your alter ego, you’re a strong one.  You would have brought Flash down either way.  Don’t let this make you question yourself.  You made the right choice.  I’ll come with you to see the Principal tomorrow and we will sort all this out.  You have nothing to worry about.  It was a clear case of defense.  Flash is the one who could be charged with an offence here, not you.  Between the footage and the number of witnesses to what was happening he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.” 

 

“Okay, thanks Dad... I, umm, I, Mr Stark” Peter said wide eyed, his face had gone a pale shade of red and his hand had restored to rubbing the back of his neck. Tony reached out and ruffled the kid’s hair.

 

“No problem Kiddo. How about we go and do some science.” Tony said an indulgent smile on his face.                                                                                

 

* * *

 

 

November 15th 2018 – 2 Days before Darcy disappears.

 

Peter walked out of Bruce’s lab later on that night, they had finally gotten the new web fluid compound to work. He stopped at the elevator and began to dig around in his bag for earphones while he waited for it.

 

Darcy had decided to head to the Kitchen in the den to quickly grab something for her and Jane to eat since she was on one of her Science! Benders, when she spotted Peter. She smiled, looking at the adorable fluffy haired boy in front of her, she wasn’t sure why but something about Peter made her want to wrap him up in a blanket and look after him, he seemed to have that effect on everyone. She had noticed the fond looks Tony gave him and the warmth in Bruce’s eyes as they worked in the labs together, it was sweet. Having the kid about gave the labs a little warmth, everyone felt a bit happier when he was about. Darcy was about to say hi when she noticed something in his bag, was that dirty laundry? Why would he have that in his bag, surely that’s something he would do at home, unless he hadn’t been home. Now that Darcy was looking for it, she found all the tell-tale signs; There were bags under his eyes, he was clean but a bit rough around the edges, his hair wasn’t as soft and fluffy looking as usual, it looked brittle and bit greasy. She probably wouldn’t have noticed it if she hadn’t seen his bag, he still looked so put together, just a bit stressed but that can easily be explained by school work. Peter wasn’t at home.

 

“Hey Pete!” Darcy called from a few meters away. Peter quickly zipped up his bag, earphones caught between his teeth, looking at Darcy.

 

“Hey Darcy” He replied grabbing the earphones out his mouth. She smiled as she sped up a bit to get to him.

 

“So, what’s been going on with you? Haven’t seen you around here in a while” She asked, she had a pretty clear idea of what was going on. Growing up in the foster system wasn’t an easy thing, sometimes running away and living rough for a few weeks or more was better than staying at a house where you were either seen as a slave or a punching bag, so she knew what living on the streets or staying at friend’s house looked like.

 

“Not much, just been busy with school and Spider-Man.” Peter replied, it wasn’t a complete lie. He had been busy with school, and he had been keeping himself busy as Spider-Man, he just hadn’t mentioned what had happened with May. He wanted to though, but it wasn’t her problem, he had slipped up telling Bruce was never his intention. “How have you been?” He asked.

 

“I’ve been good, you know aside from getting shocked by Jane's pesky machines.” Darcy laughed, pointing towards her extra frizzy hair. “How’s May?”

 

“May, she umm, she’s okay, I think...” Peter paused looking into Darcy’s bright blue eyes, he could tell her, right? He knew he could trust her, but this wasn’t her problem, yet he felt the need to tell her. He couldn’t lie to her, he was already beginning to feel guilty and he hadn’t lied yet.

 

“I, um. I don’t know, don’t really see her much anymore.” He continued. As much as Darcy loved being right, she absolutely hated being right about this, her heart broke for him, he looked so vulnerable. The elevator doors opened.

 

“Do you wanna come get some food with me?” She asked. She hoped he would say yes, it would give her a chance to talk to him and find out what was going on, and hopefully help him.

 

“Yea, okay” He nodded, both of them got in and Darcy instructed to Jarvis to take them to the Kitchen on the Avengers shared common room. She looked at Peter and saw that he looked a bit nervous, oh.

 

“Don’t worry the only people that are here and have access to that floor right now are us, Bruce, Tony and Winter though he keeps to himself, so you won’t see him and I’m 90% sure Steve’s off on a mission with Sam and Nat’s on one with Clint.” She assured him, she noticed his face grower colder at the mention of Cap. It must have had something to do with him dropping a multi-ton jetway on Peter. His face changed back to its normal warmth after a few seconds.

 

“Do you wanna talk about what’s going on with May?” She asked him, her voice was softer, more cautious than before. Peter looked at her for a moment, she could see the internal struggle that was going on, she knew his type, she saw it with Tony all the time. Self-sacrificing, everything wrong with the world is his fault and he needs to fix it, his problems aren’t other peoples, type. After a moment he nodded, she smiled, and the doors opened again.

 

“So, start at the beginning" Darcy said as she walked over to the counter and started pulling out plates.

 

“After Tony asked me to be an Avenger and I turned him down, May found out I was Spider-man.” He paused for a minute, trying to figure out what to say.

 

Darcy can remember that day, Tony was upset after that, he had been looking forward to having the young Spiderling as a part of his team, he had even planned one on one training time and time in the labs together for them. He agreed though that Peter had made the right decision for himself and she could tell he felt a sense of pride about that. Darcy walked over to the fridge and pulled out a loaf and a half of bread and a lot of sandwich making stuff, she had heard that Peter ate more than Cap and if this was possibly the only thing he could be eating until lunch time tomorrow, she was going to make as much as he could eat and extra to take with him.

 

“She told me that I couldn’t be Spider-Man anymore because I’m only 16 and I’m still a kid.” Peter said.

 

“And let me guess the first chance you got you went out as Spider-Man.” Darcy guessed, passing a sandwich to him.

 

“Yea... I tried not to, but I could hear four or so cop cars a few blocks over, I had to go help.” Darcy nodded, she got it, if you’re a superhero and you ignore a situation that you could have helped with, shit like that can really make you feel guilty.

 

“Okay so what happened after that, did she catch you?” Darcy asked, noticing that Peter had finished the sandwich already, not bothering to cut the new one in half she slid the plate over to him. He smiled in thanks and continued.

 

“She caught me a couple times and would give me into trouble for it, but by the third she said she had had enough and kicked me out, saying that if I was going to be a superhero, she wasn’t having any part in it, she didn’t like being lied to. So, I stayed with Ned for the best part of a month before she phoned me and asked me to come home. We talked about it and she said that she was sorry for what she said and that she was just worried about me, that being Spider-Man is very dangerous and she just didn’t want me to get myself killed. After that things went almost back to normal and everything was fine until about two months ago” He finished his sandwich and before he could even look down another one had appeared, he felt bad eating all their food, but he hadn’t eaten since lunch time and it was now well after midnight, the next time he would eat would be lunch time tomorrow. The guilt quickly faded as hunger won out and he began to eat another sandwich.

 

“She started taking on more shifts at the hospital and I was lucky if I saw her once or twice a week, there was less and less food in the fridge, the notes she had been leaving to let me know when she would be back disappeared entirely, and I saw her less. When I did see her, she was usually shouting at me about Spider-Man, but I could take it, we would resolve things within a couple days and that was that, at least it was until she brought Tony into it. Her arguments all revolved around how this was his fault for recruiting a 14-year-old kid, saying horrible things about him. So, I just left, deciding my time was better spent being Spider-Man than arguing with her. I started staying at Ned’s more often and any nights I wasn’t at his I would just stay out as Spider-Man or on the nights she wasn’t home I would stay there. She rarely comes home anymore anyway, so I wouldn’t exactly see her if I was there. Then a month ago we got into a really big argument and I let it slip that I had presented as an Alpha...”

 

“What do you mean you let it slip? You presented over a year ago, surely she would have known.” Darcy asked.

 

“I shouldn’t have presented, both of my parents were Nons, my presenting at all was impossible. She decided after that she was done with me, she told me to pack my bags and go and not to come back, I took the important stuff and put it in my backpack, but when I came back to get more stuff when she was working the next day everything in my room was gone, she’d gotten rid of it all.”   Peter finished up his sandwich and his story.

 

Darcy was filled with rage, had May really done that? Left him at a time in his life when he was most unsure and vulnerable? This was the time he would being forming bonds and making a pack and she had just out right left him in the cold, the only family he had left in the world. Darcy looked down to see she had made up a stack of about five or six sandwiches and had viciously cut them in half. She looked at Peter apologetically and slid him the plate.

 

“Peter when was the last time you slept in a bed?” She inquired.

 

“A month ago.” His voice was quiet.

 

“Have you told anyone about this? Does Tony know?” Darcy added to more sandwiches to the plate.

 

“No, I haven’t told anyone. I haven’t even told Ned. It’s my problem to deal with, it’s my fault. I- I don’t want to bother Tony with it.” Peter spoke, it was a lie, MJ knew but it was different with her, he trusted her more than he thought he could trust someone. After that day in the hallway, they had gotten closer again, she started taking down her walls. She would sit closer to him again, she would talk about her foster parents openly. Whenever they walked in the hallway, she would stand closer to him subconsciously letting him guide her. She had started wearing the locket he got her, but he didn’t dare ask what was in it. MJ had tried to help him when she found out about May. She had offered him a place to stay, but he didn’t want to put her in that position with her foster parents, he knew that they usually worked nights, but if they caught him staying on their couch... He didn’t want MJ to get hurt because of it. Darcy took a good look at the kid, he looked exhausted, he was clearly not eating as much as he should be.

 

“Pete, you need to talk to Tony about this, none of it is your fault. Please promise me you’ll talk to him about it tomorrow. You shouldn’t be living on the streets.”

 

Peter looked at Darcy sadly, he was going to have to do this, she would tell him if he didn’t. It would be better coming from him. “Okay I’ll talk to him about it.” He replied.

 

“Okay, good. Are you still hungry?” Darcy asked.

 

“No, I'm good, really. Thanks” Peter said smiling at her, he felt better now he had told someone about it, he didn’t realise just how much he had been struggling with it.

 

“Okay” Darcy paused thinking. “Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?” she asked, giving him her lie to me and you die face. Peter looked at her, trying to figure out how to get past the human lie detector before giving up.

 

“I don’t, I’m not staying at Ned’s until tomorrow night.” He said honestly. Darcy nodded, she knew what it was like.

 

“Well, I’m not going to be back in my apartment until later on tomorrow morning because Jane is on another one of her Science! Benders so you can crash at my apartment tonight.” She spoke.

 

“No, it’s fine I’ll find somewhere else I-” He started before Darcy cut him off.

 

“Nope you’re staying in my apartment, you are not sleeping on the streets. There’s a guest bedroom, Jarvis can guide you there. You can leave early in the morning if you’re worried about someone seeing you, no one gets up before 10 when Steve isn’t here.” She said, smiling at Peter. Peter smiled back.

 

“Thank you Darcy, it really means a lot to me.” He spoke. Darcy finished making up a plate of sandwiches to take down to Jane.

 

“You’re welcome Peter. Wash your clothes as well, take a shower and make something to eat before you leave for school. I will ask Jarvis if you did and if I find out you haven’t, I will go down to the school myself and bring you breakfast, trust me, you don’t want that.” She smiled with a mischievous glint in her eye, before giving a small laugh.

 

“I will” Peter shouted to her as she left the kitchen.

 

“Goodnight Peter, get some sleep” She replied before disappearing down the hallway.

 

* * *

 

November 16th 2018

 

Peter woke up feeling like he was floating on air, this was unreal. He had actually forgotten in the month it had been what it was like to sleep in a proper bed, but this was beyond a proper bed. It felt as though he was as light as a feather and the bed was so comfortable that he struggled to convince himself to actually get up and go to school that day. He eventually managed to get up, collecting his clean set of clothes from the dryer.

 

“Good Morning Master Parker. Miss Lewis has asked me to remind you to eat before you leave today.” Jarvis said. Was it possible for an AI to sound amused? Because he certainly did. Peter nodded his head in a laugh.

 

“Thanks Jarvis” He replied, grabbing a few Super Soldier Protein bars and heading out. Darcy was accurate when she said that no one got up before 10, this place was dead.

 

Peter was a few blocks from the tower when he realised that he needed to hand back his chem book today to get the new one. He frowned, remembering where it was. It was at May’s in the cupboard in the hallway. With a sigh Peter changed his direction to head back towards that of the tower, pulling his bag onto both shoulders he started jogging towards Queens. He really hoped that May hadn’t thrown it out, it would cost a fortune to buy a new one for the school. It was 7am and school started in an hour, he was going to need a faster mode of transportation. Ducking into an alley he quickly put on the Spidey suit, noticing for the first time just how cold it was outside, he would need to see if his winter jacket was still there as well. Swinging his way to Queens, he could smell the snow that was threatening to fall as the clouds got darker.

 

With some luck, his old room’s window was still unlocked so he easily got inside. He began to dig through the cupboard for his book, he was sure he had left it on the top shelf. He had already found his jacket and had it tucked neatly into his bag. With a grin he spotted it and went to grab it, knocking down a shoebox in the process. Shit.

Peter dropped to his knees putting everything back in. He stopped when he picked up a picture of his mother, she was with Tony Stark... Peter’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion, how was this possible? Surely Mr Stark would have mentioned this to him by now. Turning it around the date read December 24th 2000\. Peter looked in the box and found his mother letters along with a few more pictures and a key with an address. Peter heard the front door being unlocked, May was back. He grabbed his bag, the box, and shut the cupboard door before fleeing the apartment.

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

Peter was completely confused; how did his Mom know Tony? Why hadn’t Tony mentioned it? What was the key for?

 

“Karen, phone MJ” Peter spoke, swinging his way towards her house. It rang a couple times before she answered.

 

“Hey Peter” She said happily.

 

“Hey, are you at school yet?” He asked, nearly swinging into a lamp post, he was to distracted to be doing this safely.

 

“I haven’t left my house yet. Are you okay? You sound worried.” She asked. Peter quickly stopped on a rooftop and quickly told MJ what happened. She agreed to ditch school with him and go investigate. She wouldn’t usually agree to something like this, but she was worried about Peter, he sounded really lost and frantic over the phone.

 

“Okay, come over to mine and we’ll take a look at the box.” She said. Peter smiled, he was glad that he could count on her to be there for him, it gave him a sense of relief.

 

“I’ll head over now” He said, beginning to swing again.

 

“And Peter, take a breath, you’re not going to get anywhere if you pass out.” MJ said hanging up the phone.

 

 

20 minutes later they sat in her room with the contents of the box spilled out in front of them. One photo of Mary and Tony, a key with an address stuck to it, a sonogram and a letter from Tony to Alice Hale, along with other bits and bobs. Peter glanced at MJ as she tried to make sense of all this, she had already started making notes on what they had found. In the letter Tony was apologizing to Peter’s mother for how he had acted that night, saying that he missed his friend and wishing her a happy marriage.

 

“I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t he tell me?” Peter said to no one in particular, none of this made sense, nothing in his life made sense, him presenting, Spider-Man, the ‘Stark Internship’. Had Tony recruited him because he knew Mary?

 

“Maybe he didn’t realise you were her son. The letter is addressed to Alice Hale, so he knew her as Alice rather than Mary and after she got married, he may not have known her last name got changed to Parker.” MJ said, trying to settle his thoughts, it was no use though. Peter may not have wanted to put it all together, but she had. All she was lacking was the smoking gun.  It was circumstantial, sure, but it erally looked from where she was standing that Tony was Peter’s father.  The letter apologizing for his behavior, along with the photo of the two together just under nine months before Peter was born and the sonogram. She could see it now, they both had the same Hazel eyes and brown hair. They were both gifted with intelligence and had a very similar need to fix every problem in the world, well at least they did from what she had heard from Peter about him. The fact that Peter presented was enough alone to figure out it was unlikely Richard was his father. She knew Peter could have put this together by himself quickly any other day, but he hadn’t because some part of him didn’t want it to be true and she didn’t blame him, his whole life would have been a lie.

 

“How about we go and see what’s in this storage unit” MJ said, packing up the box and putting it in her bag before shrugging on her jacket. Peter nodded and grabbed his jacket out of his bag before the pair left. The walked there, taking their time because why the hell not, if MJ was right and the proof was in there, this could be the last time Peter would feel even slightly calm for while and she was going to make that last as long as she possibly could. They grabbed a churro each for lunch a couple blocks away before going into the warehouse. Peter easily located the storage unit once they were in there, stopping at it for a moment, just staring at it as if it was about to attack him.

 

“You ready?” MJ asked. Peter nodded unlocking the door. She reached out and held his hand as he opened it, squeezing it in reassurance. Peter is surprised when he opened it, it looked like it was filled with filing units. There was at least 20 different units, they were going to be here a while.

 

“Divide and conquer” Peter suggested. MJ nodded and they split up, him taking the front half of the room and her taking the back half. Many tireless hours later MJ had found her smoking gun, only there was more than one.

 

“Peter, come here.” She shouted, laying out the files on the dusty table. There were files on Peter, Tony, Pepper and Mary’s pregnancy. MJ watched as Peter went through the files, she could see him slowly breaking apart at the seams. Within an hour he had read through all four, nothing had been said between the pair. It was pretty grim reading.  All the pieces that lined up painted a concerning picture.

Richard Parker and Mary-Alice Hale had worked for Trask industries as a biochemist and geneticist respectively.   There were other people involved in the…  MJ didn’t know whether to call it a plot or an experiment.  She felt upset reading the files, she could only imagine how much worse it must be for Peter.  The motives around the whole thing were unclear but what had happened wasn’t.  Trask had tasked Richard Parker with studying Tony Stark’s DNA, he was clearly looking for something important.  Whatever it was he felt he had found it and then the next part of the plan had went ahead.  Obadiah Stane had reported to Trask that Tony had met his match and that the two had held back from consummating it.  The opportunity was obviously too much for Trask.  Earlier attempts had been made to clone Tony’s DNA or create a child and failed.  But having the genetic material of his biological match?  That meant almost guaranteed success.  This is where Pepper Potts OBGYN Dr Montgomery had come in.  The woman had been paid or blackmailed, it wasn’t clear which, to extract Pepper’s healthy genetic material.  In this case it meant they had harvested her eggs while she was in for a cervical biopsy that was unneeded.  They had lied to her about a cancer risk in order to get her under anesthetic then stole her eggs.  They managed to get three, two of which didn’t take when Mr Stark’s DNA was introduced to them, but the last one.  The last one had developed into an embryo.

 

For whatever reason Richard Parker had decided they were going too far and had went to his old friend Mary Alice and told her everything.  Mary had been a good friend of Tony’s for years and was furious over what was happening.  She had went to Tony to tell him when she had been blindsided overhearing a conversation between Trask had with Stane.  She had reviewed Pepper’s medical files herself and had discovered that Pepper had been given drugs meant to reduce fertility by slowly compromising the genetic integrity of her DNA, it was the reason only one of her eggs had been viable.  Worried for both Tony and Pepper and realizing she was out of her depth she had decided to implant the embryo in herself and go on the run.  Parker had went after her when he realized what she had done and convinced her not to run back home to her family.  Instead Mary Alice stayed and married Parker.  Both of them sabotaging Trasks work and slowly copying and transferring files and evidence of Trasks crimes.  This room was a gold mine of evidence.  Richard and Mary had most likely been discovered and murdered by Trask but somehow they had held onto the secret of Peter’s origins.  Peter’s face was white with shock.  MJ couldn’t fault him for it, she felt sick just reading the riles, he was becoming more distressed the longer he looked at the files.  It was as if he was shrinking in on himself, curling up, one arm banded over his abdomen. 

 

“Tony and Pepper are my parents.” He said, MJ walked round the table and hugged him, wrapping her arms around him tightly as his head fell to her shoulder. She knew what it was like to lose parents, but she could guess that finding out the people you mourned over weren’t your family at all had to be a thousand times worse.

 

“Yeah, they are.” She replied, running her fingers through his hair.

 

“How am I meant to tell them?” He mumbled into her jumper, his voice breaking slightly. MJ gave him a tight squeeze before replying.

 

“If you want, I will go with you to tell them, whenever you are ready to. You don’t need to go through this alone... You haven’t lost me.  We can show them the files, they’ll make everything right Peter, I know they will.” She said resting her head atop his as she felt him nod. After a few minutes once she was sure Peter had collected himself, she let go of him, bringing him back into the real world.

 

“You should go outside and get some fresh air, head to the diner across the street and grab us some coffee for the walk home. I’ll grab the files we need and lock up” MJ said nudging Peter towards the door. He knew that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer and left for the diner.

 

Tony Stark was his father and Pepper Potts was his Mother. He still couldn’t believe it, surely, he should have known, they were his parents. What kind of son was he if he couldn’t even tell with his Spidey senses what they were to him? He had spent a whole afternoon with Pepper, and he didn’t even realise.

 

_November 2 nd 2017_

_Peter sat at the kitchen in the penthouse at Stark Tower drinking coffee after a long night of science with Jane and Tony, working on a new energy source Jane called a zero-point energy extractor. Tony had left him with a Starkpad before he had disappeared to go to sleep a few hours earlier, after them all agreeing to take a break and go back to work later on because Jarvis told Pepper when Tony didn’t get at least 4 hours sleep a night._

_Peter was looking online at jewelry, trying to find a locket to give MJ for Christmas, when Pepper had shown up._

  
_“Hey Peter” She said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. She glanced over at the Starkpad and saw the lockets. “Who’s the lucky girl?” She asked moving to sit down next to him. Peter smiled looking up at Pepper._

_“It’s for MJ but I don’t know which one she would like, she talked about really wanting a locket a while back so I thought that maybe I could get her one, but there’s so many to choose from and I need to get the right one for her but-” Peter hadn’t taken a breath through all of his rambling so when Pepper cut him short he was thankful, if she hadn’t stopped him he was sure he would just continue until he passed out._

_“So, MJ, I take it she’s special to you” Pepper asked, a knowing smile on her face. Peter’s face lit up at the mention of her name._

_“Yea she’s a really great friend” Peter said, it was the truth they were really good friends, even though it felt at times like they could be more._

_“I’ve got a meeting to go to just now but after lunch I can take you to my jeweler to pick something out. How does that sound?”_

_“That sounds great.” Peter replied._

_December 26 th 2017_

_Peter sighed as he made his way to the elevator, he was supposed to be working with Tony today, but he had been called out on a mission last minute and had to cancel, only Peter’s phone had died so he didn’t find out until he got there. He looked up just in time to stop himself from bumping into Ms Potts._

_“Oh!  Hi Peter, happy new year.”  Pepper greeted him.  She smiled kindly and he awkwardly accepted the hug she gave him, blushing when she ruffled his hair affectionately._

_“Hi Ms Potts.  Happy New Year.”_

_Peter had liked Pepper from the first time he met her, she was just so kind and warm. Pepper put a gentle arm around his shoulder and guided him back into the penthouse._

_“Now, I know Tony’s not here right now, but since you are why don’t you come tell me about your Christmas and keep me company till Tony gets back?”_

_Peter relaxed and let her take him through.  Before he had known what was going on, she had him tucked up on the couch beside her, blankets around him and a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows in his hands.  Pepper laid a plate of brightly coloured Christmas cookies in front of him.  He could guess from the iron man themed cookies that Darcy had probably made them, it seemed like something she would do.  Over the next few hours he found himself telling Pepper nearly everything that had happened with MJ.  Pepper had given him some great advice and just generally made him feel so much better about the whole thing.  She was totally understanding and seemed to know exactly what he needed to hear to be reassured about how it would resolve itself.  Mr Stark said Pepper was the smartest person he knew and that she was always right, Peter thought after that afternoon that he was probably right.  She certainly made it seem that way when she was giving her pep talk.  Peter had giggled internally.  Pepper’s Pep talks, he wondered if she did this for everyone?_

* * *

 

 

MJ stuffed the files into her bag and grabbed the keys. As she stepped outside the storage unit, she knew something was wrong, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a shiver went down her spine. She quickly locked it putting the keys into a tear she had made in her bag for things that needed to stay hidden, along with the files before closing it back up again. As quickly as she could she made her way to the door, the feeling of dread and worry growing with every step, someone was watching her. The second she made it outside she knew she was right, she made it all of two paces before someone covered her mouth with a cloth, she kicked at them trying to scream but it was useless, she saw Peter in the diner, they locked eyes as everything went dark.

 

* * *

 

Peter was out and heading towards the van that was speeding off, swinging faster than he thought was possible. He knew something like this would happen. This had been why he didn’t want to tell her because it put a target on her back. He couldn’t lose her because of Spider-Man. He tailed the van for half an hour before it finally stopped at a warehouse. Peter stayed in the shadows, trying to keep himself out of sight. He watched as they opened the doors and took MJ’s lifeless body inside. Peter shot at the door, stopping it from being able to lock behind them just in case he couldn’t find another way in. Looking up, he saw an open window at the top of the warehouse. Deciding to crawl in he made his way to it. Looking through he saw a hallway with four doors, there was someone on post outside each, _what were they doing?_ He saw them dragging MJ towards the door at the end, his blood boiled at the sight, it was like an inferno of anger and guilt ignited in his stomach as he saw what he had caused. The man dragging her stopped and shouted over to the guard at the door.

 

“We caught the fish” He shouted, suddenly every gun was trained on Peter aside from one that rested against MJ’s forehead. “Come down from there” He shouted, “And don’t try anything funny or I’ll shoot the girl” He added. Peter didn’t have a plan, he had no way of saving MJ, even if he tried to web the gun away it could still go off before the web got to it. There was only one option, to do what they wanted. Peter jumped down from the window with ease, landing on the ground in a crouch and slowly rising to his feet. Holding his hands up he took off his web shooters and put them in his pocket.

 

“Take the girl away but keep a gun on her, if something happens... kill her.” Peter got a better look at and realised it was Marc Gargan, one of the people that worked for Vulture. “Throw those things this way” Marc shouted to Peter. He took the web shooters out his pocket and slid them along to him.

 

“You’re meant to be in prison” Peter said, trying to find a way to take him out without alerting the guard they had on MJ, there wasn’t

 

“Yea, well, you’re meant to be smart.” He said a gun trained on Peter.

 

“Get in the room” He said nodding to the open door behind him. Peter walked slowly to the door showing no signs of attack, he had to make sure that MJ was out of the way before he did anything.

 

* * *

 

“Boss!” 

Agent Dade Murphy looked up from his terminal at the shout as one of his minions called for him.  Marcus was on surveillance protection detail.  The younger man’s tone was slightly panicked.  He quickly brought up a mirror image of what Marcus was looking at.  Shit.  It was the only word to run through his head.  He picked up his phone and dialed 5.  He didn’t waste any time talking when the man at the other end picked up.

“Morita, Parker’s girlfriend has been kidnapped and our little spider kid is hot in pursuit.  They took her  in broad daylight in full sight line of the kid.  It’s a trap.”

Morita’s cold calm seemed to flow down the phone line as Dade listened to his instructions.  Hanging up he activated the tracker in Parker's shoes and made another call.

“Walter, send Matheson and Monroe up.  We’re going to need a delicate extraction.”

“Delicate, those two?  Are you kidding me?  Those two, go loaded for bear.”  The veteran griped down the phone.

“Unimportant.  They’re the best we have in NY right now and I need them an hour ago.  Give them whatever they want from the armory and have a small strike team ready as back up and to do clean up.”

“On it Boss.”  Walter slammed the phone down and Dade winced at the bang. They did not need this right now.  Less than seventy-two hours till Operation Hercules and two of their best agents were going to be in the field saving the Spider-teen’s life.  Just what sort of trouble had Parker gotten himself into and why the hell was he not at home?  Someone had dropped the ball.

“Toshiko, I want a full rundown of every location Parker’s been in for the past twelve hours and what’s been accessed by computer by he or his girlfriend.  I also want a full review of every piece of camera footage we have with him on it and ten minutes of either side over the last week.  I want to know who’s been watching him and when and why no one in this department picked it up.”

Toshiko shuddered a little at his tone and avoided direct eye contact.

“Yes Boss.”

“Oh, and send a recall order to my wife.  We’ll need her back here a little sooner than anticipated.”

Toshiko went stone cold.  If there was anyone other than her boss that she found more intimidating it was his wife and mate, Agent Kate Libby.  The two were co-heads of the department.  Rumour had it that years before they had helped the Agency take down a very powerful corporation, powerful enough to make even The Old Guard hesitate.  But Dade and Libby had been the best computer hackers in the world and more resourceful than anyone had given a pair of teenagers credit for.  They had utterly destroyed their opposition and exposed some very powerful people for the criminals they were.  Unable to avoid it members of enemy organisations had had to cut their losses and let their lackeys be put in federal prison.  Once upon a time Acid Burn and Crash Override had been hacker legends, now they were pretty much Royalty, they were the elite of the elite and no one had ever been able to outwit them with code since.  Separately they were dangerous, together, they were unstoppable.  Learning from them and working for them was every young hackers dream.  Every single one of them in the department worshiped the ground they walked on, but the pair did not appreciate failure.  Who ever had messed up would be disciplined and most likely booted from the department which everyone knew was a demotion.  If Dade and Libby didn’t want you around then you were pretty much done.  She hurried to do her job, thankful at least that she had never been on Spider Watch.

 

* * *

 

Peter wasn’t sure what he was going to do.  Right now he just couldn’t see a safe way out of the situation they were in.  He and MJ had been separated.  While he was awake and aware he couldn’t be sure when MJ would be.  Although he was strong enough to carry her out if he managed to escape it would be almost impossible to get out while carrying her and fight off any of the henchmen Gargan had in his employ.  It had been a half hour since they were taken, so far other than threats they hadn’t harmed either of them as far as he could tell.  For some reason this didn’t reassure him at all.  He could understand Gargan wanting revenge on him, or even to kill him for putting him in jail, what he couldn’t understand is why he was still in one piece.  There was something else going on.  He just hoped it wasn’t something that he couldn’t get out of.  The thought of what could happen to them if this was something more than a revenge plot just wouldn’t leave him alone.  What if Gargan was working for someone else, like Trask?  What if this whole thing was because Peter had tripped some unseen alarm when he accessed the storage unit?  He’d run straight into danger and hadn’t told anyone where he was going other than MJ.  Granted he didn’t have May anymore, but he could have called Darcy or Tony before he skipped school and told them about what he’d found.  It would have been safer if he had.  There was no reason for anyone other than MJ’s foster parents to notice either of them were missing and they wouldn’t be back till Monday as they were away at a conference.  When the gas starts being pumped into the room he has one last thought that this all could have been different if he had just talked to someone.

 

When MJ wakes up it’s to the sound of screaming.  She’s never heard Peter make a sound like that before, but she knows it’s his voice, hoarse with pain, that’s ringing through the walls.  MJ hated other people to think of her as weak.  She had spent years perfecting her many masks that allowed her to pretend that she was stronger than she was.  It had been her mantra till she met Peter.  Don’t let them see you can be hurt.  Don’t let them know you are hurting.  She’d learned the hard way that when people saw weakness they took advantage of it, would use it to manipulate and destroy you if they could.  None of those masks were any good to her right now.  Peter was being tortured, she felt sick and dizzy with fear.  She had to get out of here.  Had to find a way to escape and get help.  When the feeling finally returned to her legs she stood, albeit a little shakily and looked around the room she was in.  There were no windows and the only door was the exit.  The longer she listened to his screams the more her tears fell down her cheeks.  She felt so helpless right now, she hated it.  She wanted to be strong, wanted to save him.  Eventually she sat back down again.  The dizzy feeling was getting worse instead of better and a hot flush of fever had set in.  Maybe she was getting sick or was allergic to something they’d given her.  She shrugged her shirt off and folded it beside her, her skin felt hot and itchy and her clothes felt uncomfortable and scratchy against her skin.  She didn’t sit for long before restlessness set in again and she was on her feet paced round the room.  What the hell was wrong with her?  She laid her head against the cool metal of the door and sighed.  When she breathed in again there was  the wretched stench of vinegar and cloves, it made her nose burn and her eyes water.  What the hell?  Where did that smell come from?  She pressed her ear against the door and listened, on the other side she could hear someone.  One of the guards most likely, his breathing was even and she focused more she could hear the faint beat of his heart…  Oh no.  Oh god no, she could not be….    Her parents had been Beta’s, the chances of her presenting Omega were slim.  She had still had to attend the mandatory health class though.  The one that covered everything she might have to know if she did present as Omega and everything she was experiencing right now were all critical points of the thrice be damned leaflet from that class.  Heightened smell and hearing, a fever, itchy over sensitive skin…   Presenting as Omega was pretty brutal all things considered.  Alpha’s just knew, almost right away what had happened,  Beta’s too since they usually found themselves happily joining a group and tagging along as though they’d always been there.  Omega’s though, their first experience of being such was a trial by fire.  A first short heat lasting a day, no warning, no way to plan for it, just the symptoms coming on for half a day and then twelve hours of whining for a mate.  She was going to be sick.  She had thought like everyone else that she would be a beta.  The only time this possibility crossed her mind was the day Peter had stepped in to make Flash leave her alone.  Knowing he was an Alpha and that he had stepped up to protect her, look after her, had made her want it, just for a minute.  The thought of having that level of devotion and focus only on her for the rest of her life had been tempting.  But she had quickly squashed the idea.  Finding out he was Spider-Man and then that he was an Alpha she had put all the stops on any sort of romantic attachment between them.  Guy’s like Peter ending up with sweet Omega’s who would always be there for them and never bitched or treated them badly.  That was so far from who MJ was that it wasn’t even funny.  The way he talked about Miss Potts and Darcy…  she would never be like them.  She wasn’t sweet or nurturing or even kind.  But now she was going into heat and the only thing she could think about was getting out of here and getting to Peter.  They were both in so much danger.  What were they going to do?

 

Peter struggled against the restraints holding him, even knowing it was futile he kept trying.  The cuffs were made of Adamantium, one of the strongest metals on earth.  When he had come too, he’d found himself in this chair, cuffed and unable to move.  Gargan had laughed and told him he wasn’t going of be going anywhere.  After what Peter had cost him he was going to get his pound of flesh.  Peter hadn’t thought the man meant literally until the doctor had come in with a tray of instruments and started cutting into him.  As far as Peter could tell they were taking lots of tissue samples and drawing blood.  Apparently getting blood and tissue samples from enhanced humans like spider man payed a pretty penny and Gargan was going to take his payday out of the country once he was done with Peter. 

 

They had left him alone when there was a commotion in the hallway.  For a minute Peter wondered if perhaps someone had come to rescue them.  Then his heart sunk.  He could hear Happy’s voice in the hall. Shouting and cursing.  Guilt ate away at Peter, had Happy come looking for him and been kidnapped too?  Maybe come to try and find him and walked into the same trap? 

 

“Seems like we have to rent out your room little Spider.” Gargan said as Peter was heaved to his feet by one of the guards.   “Since I’m feeling generous, who would you like to bunk in with, your girlfriend or your chauffeur?”  Peter refused to answer him.  He wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

 

“Stick him in with the girl.  Let’s remind him what happens if he fights us.”  Gargan ordered the man beside him.

 

When they reached the room as the end of the hall the first thing that hist Peter when the door opened was the sweet smell of strawberries mixed with a vanilla.   The next thing he realized was the look on the guard’s face as he was hit with that same scent.  He’s not sure how he knows in that moment exactly what’s happened, but he does.  The Alpha that he tries to keep so controlled under the surface of his skin, howls in the back of his brain.  He’s not an idiot though, he’s been around both Pepper and Darcy for a while now, both have sweet scents that offer comfort and calm to those in their vicinity.  The one time he visited the tower when Pepper was in heat he’d thought someone had bought out a flower shop, the penthouse had been swimming in the scent of Jasmine and roses.  So intellectually he knows what it means, MJ was an Omega.  But the saturation of sent in the room is high which means MJ was in heat and the man beside him was an unbonded Alpha, a nasty one.  There was no way in hell that man was going to be allowed in the same space with MJ, not with her this vulnerable, everything in Peter was screaming at him to eradicate the danger and find some place safe to take MJ.  He had to protect her, had to hide her away…  Peter brought his elbow up and cracked the man in the face with it, forcing him out of the room and slamming the door behind him.  On the other side he heard the lock slide into place and the man he had hit being hauled away.  When he finally got up the courage to look at MJ her eyes were wide and staring at him like she had never seen him before.  Which is when he was hit with that same feeling himself.  It was a difficult thing to explain.  He’d known MJ for three years, had watched her enough that he thought he would recognize her anywhere, but this was different.  It was like he was seeing her for the first time, everything felt new and strange.  He already thought she was beautiful because she was, everyone thought so too, but now it was different.  He felt like she had become the center of the universe for him.  There was nothing more perfect in the world than her, nothing came close…what was going on?

 

“Peter.”  MJ breathed in shock.  She was seeing him through new eyes.  The curl of his hair, the deep brown eyes that were looking back at her like she was something special…  mine she thought fiercely.  He was hers.  He looked like hell though, blood ran down his neck and soaked the top of his shirt and there were badly bandaged wounds on his arm and under his shirt.  What the fuck had they been doing to him?  Spotting the cuffs she growled at the back of her throat.  Absolutely not.  She was on her feet and by his side in seconds, grabbing at his hands and inspecting the lock.  They weren’t so different from the standard issue cuff the police department had, the metal looked very different though.  She pulled a couple of bobby pins from her bun and started working on the locks. 

 

Peter could only stare in shock as she grabbed him and started working on the cuffs.  The telltale click as they fell apart and dropped to the ground was sudden.  The next moment he found himself with an armful of upset, distressed Omega.  MJ was shaking as she clung to him.  Without thinking he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips into her hair and whispering every calming reassuring world he could think of.  He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, committing it to memory.  The instinct that had been clawing its way forward seemed to retreat for a moment, letting him think instead of react.  Not that it did much good.  They were still trapped, still not safe and now he had so much more to fight for than before. 

 

“We have to get out of here.”  MJ said as she pressed her nose into his neck.  Had Peter always smelled this nice she though fleetingly?  He smelled safe and warm and…  she froze.  She had to stop that train of thought.  They were both of them nowhere near ready for this.  And even if they had been, not here, they had to escape.

 

“Are you all right?”  he asked her, concern flooding from him.

 

“Of course I’m not alright.   I’ve been kidnapped and now I’m about four hours away from wanting to fuck whatever Alpha will have me.”  She shot back angrily.  She cringed in horror at the sharp tone of her words.  She hadn’t meant it like that.

 

“Listen to me.  I will get you out of here, I promise. “  He cupped her face gently in his hands and waited for her to meet his eyes properly.  When she did her eyes were blown wide and a faint gold rim graced the edge of each iris.  “I swear, I will get you out of here and somewhere safe.  Okay?”

 

She could feel it when she looked into his eyes.  He meant every word.  He was projecting with his voice and scent trying to keep her calm.  Part of her resented it.  She had every right to feel hysterical right now, but logically he was only following his own instincts.  God this was so confusing, having her brain and her new instincts trying to make sense of the whole mess and saying different things was going to drive her mad.  Integration.  That was the next step with presentation.  The next year she would slowly come to terms with the part of her that only ran on intuition and her new heightened senses.  How did people deal with this, it was like having a different person in her brain trying to make her do things she wouldn’t normally do.  But that was normal she reminded herself.  The Omega understood the world through sent and some sixth sense that no one had ever been able to quantify, an intuition that was spookily spot on by all accounts.  Right now all that part of her wanted was for Peter to never stop holding her, stay beside him always and keep him all to herself.  It was primal and powerful and possessive.  She tried to get the thought out of her head but it wouldn’t go away.  Mine she thought again, the voice in her head loud and insistent.  But that wasn’t in any of the pamphlets she’d read, there was nothing that she remembered reading that spoke about this particular instinct. 

 

“Mine.”  Peter heard her growl out at him, her fingers digging into his upper arms where she was holding him.  He grinned at her for a moment, a deep sense of satisfaction echoing in his bones at the word.

 

“Always.” He returned as she smiled back after a moment of shock when she realized she had spoken out loud.

 

“Peter, what’s happening here?”  her voice shook a little as she asked.  Oh, he thought worriedly.  She didn’t know.  But she felt it too, he could feel it, see it.  But then he’d seen it himself at the tower.  Pepper and Tony… god they were his parents.  They were a match, a bond match just like he knew now that he had with MJ.

 

“I think we’re a match. Tony described it to me once.  He said, he knew the moment he met Pepper that she was his, as soon as their eyes met, the only thing he could think, was that she belonged with him.”

 

“Oh.”  She frowned and shook her head.  “You feel that way too, about me.”

 

Peter nodded.  “Yes.  I mean I know you’re your own person and I would never order you around or make decisions for you.  But yeah, I look at you now and…  it’s like this feeling… a sort of knowledge that is just a fact.  You’re mine.  And I’m yours.  It’s like a truth that has always existed and will never change.”

 

“What do we do?”

 

Peter took a breath.  There were so many ways he wanted to answer that question.

 

“We get out of here, we get you somewhere safe till your heat passes and then I guess we talk about it, figure out what we’re going to do.  We have plenty of time.”  He felt her relax at his words and breathed a sigh of relief.  He’d said the right thing.   Now he just had to figure out how to get them out of here.  Before he could formulate a plan though he heard the sound of shouting, then gunfire.  Swiftly he backed MJ into the far corner of the room and whipped the table on it’s side, sliding it in front of MJ before leaping over and curling his body around hers protectively. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Bass, I swear to god, change the fuckin channel.”

 

Bass flashed her a shark like grin and continued to air guitar to the metal blaring through the radio.  She whipped a hand off the back of his head and smirked as he grunted in pain.  The immediate lack of music in the car was a welcome respite.  Her mate was constantly pushing her buttons, he seemed to like it when she got annoyed with him.  It certainly made for an interesting relationship.  On the other hand she deliberately wound him up too, it was a beautiful thing to watch him work himself into a state of frustration. 

 

“Charlotte.”  He sang out, batting his ridiculously pretty eyes at her.

 

She grinned at him and shook her head.

 

“Come on, focus.  We have to get this mess sorted out before Dade losses his shit and the baby agents all die from the stress of it all.”  Charlie drew into the next lane and cursed the New York traffic under her breath.  At this rate they wouldn’t reach the target for another twenty minutes.  It had already been nearly four hours since the kids had been taken.

 

“Oh come on, this is a walk in the park for us.  Some second rate bad guy with abysmal planning and lack of imagination.  He got lucky with this.  Dade and Libby are pretty much going to eviscerate Dinardo for missing the tail that was on them, these guys are amateurs.”

 

“They’re amateurs with guns.  Amateurs that have the possible son of Tony Stark in their hands.  You really want to go in there and mess up because you think you’re all that?”  she questions with a raised brow.  Bass sticks his tongue out at her.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that he’s the older one in this relationship, by a decade no less, sometimes she thinks she’s married to a child. 

 

“I’m Batman!”  he winks at her as he checks the chamber of the gun he’s holding, his tone still playful.  All that’s missing she thinks is the jazz hands she knows he would usually flare out with that statement.

 

“You’re something alright.”

 

“You know you love me.”

 

“Only on days that end with y.”  she tells him solemnly.

 

“Okay, I’ll be good Charlotte.”  He finally caves.  She bites her lip before replying.

 

“Not too good, Bass.” 

 

“You are a wicked woman Charlotte Monroe.”

 

“Matheson.”  She throws back.

 

“I’ll wear you down eventually,”

 

“You can try.”  She tells him as she pulls into a side street over from the warehouse they know Peter Parker is being held in.

 

It’s like a switch being thrown as they both take one last look at the building’s blueprints and do one more check of their weapons.  Both are calm and serious with a grim edge of determination.  This is what they know, it’s been their lives for nearly fifteen years.  They had worked out what they were to each other pretty quick during training and Bass had perused her with a single-minded determination that would have had most woman running for the hills.  But not Charlie.  Bass thrilled her, he was passionate and funny but ultimately, he was one of the most dangerous men she had ever met.  She liked his darkness, it complimented her own perfectly.  That he had seen and recognized that in her immediately had been part of why they could work together so well.  Most people saw a cute innocent blond with beach waves and huge blue eyes.  Bass had seen another predator.  Even with over ten years between them he had respected her and listened to her.  In the field he was happy to follow her lead and the reverse was also true.  When Bass told her it was time to switch she knew it was for a good reason, usually one where he was more familiar with who or what they were dealing with.  His ten year stint in a black ops unit was an open secret. 

 

“Coms on, you read me?”

 

“Loud and clear Batman.”

 

He spares her a last wicked grin and kisses her quickly before they head off separately.  Charlie focuses on the mission.  Time to extract the kids.  She pulls a long knife, which really is more of a short sword, from her thigh and swings up onto the wall.  Looking down she spots the enemy immediately.  He never sees the angel of death that drops behind him and slits his throat soundlessly, the sharp blade cutting his vocal cords before he can even gurgle. 

 

“One.”  She reads off lowly.  Over the bond she feels Bass’ amusement.  And she heads into the crumbling building.

 

Ten minutes later they stand in a hallway, the bodies of seven men cooling on the floor.

 

“That was messy.”

 

“I agree, they killed off more of their own with friendly fire than I’ve seen since Iraq.”  Bass sneers at the lack of discipline and training.  These people weren’t threats, just idiots.

 

They clear the rooms one by one.  Any of Gargan’s men they find are very quickly given a swift headshot and double tap to the chest.  They come to a locked door and carefully enter.  There is a man lying beaten in the corner. 

 

“Happy Hogan, one of Stark's.  He must have come after the kid.” 

 

Bass bends down and checks for a pulse.  It’s there, he shakes Happy’s shoulder.

 

“Hey man, rise and shine.  Time to get out of here.” 

  
Happy groggily comes too and tries to lunge at Bass.  Charlie’s gun is in her hand and against his head in a split second.  The older man froze when metal met skin.

 

“Sorry man, wife’s a bit trigger happy.  We’re the rescue party.  Hill sent us.”  Bass brings out their security badges, helpfully sent by Maria Hill herself to give them a cover.

 

Once it’s all settled it’s on to door number two.

 

Bass gently rests his hand on her arm and she quirks him a look and then lowers her weapon.  He knocks the door lightly.

 

“Hey, delivery for Parker.  One getaway car and a rescue.  We’re coming in now, we’re not going to hurt you but we are armed.”

 

He nods and Charlie turned the bolt, allowing Bass to enter first.  The smell hits her fast and she grabs him by the tac vest and pulls him out of the room as a low growl emanates from behind a table in the far corner.

 

Bass signals Happy to back up two and taps his watch at Charlie.

 

She nods and slides into the room silently.

 

“Hey Peter, my name’s Charlie, I work for Maria Hill.  You know her right?  We’re here to get you out.  Are you guys okay?  Any injuries to tend?”  she uses a soothing tone on the frightened teens, keeping herself small and as nonthreatening as possible.

 

“Umm, hi, sorry I..”  the soft voice of the teen pipes up.  She can hear the embarrassment trickling through.

 

“No, no, it’s okay, perfectly understandable.  My partner and I are bonded though, you have nothing to worry about.  Neither of us will hurt your friend.  She’s in  heat, I can tell.  I really don’t think we should stick around here much longer though.  Think you can bring her out?”

 

“Umm, yeah, we’re fine.”  Parker stands slowly and spots Happy behind Bass in the Hallway.  Some tension leaves the young boy and he gently lifts the girl behind him into his arms.

 

“Right, you follow Bass there and Happy and I’ll cover our six.”  She tells him professionally.  He nods and then they’re moving quickly through the halls.

 

Charlie hears the boy tell his girl not to look.  Sometimes she forgets that dead bodies disturb normal people. 

 

* * *

 

A grumbling Happy jumps into the back of the SUV Charlie and Bass drove while Peter and MJ huddle in the middle seats. 

 

Bass gives Charlotte a look of concern over the younger girl.  She’s shaking and for the life of him he can’t tell if it’s shock or something more serious.  Charlotte’s eyes take in the teenagers, assessing the range of possibilities.  Finally she looks back at him and her mouth has turned into a grim line.  She shakes her head.

 

“I think she needs a hospital or an Omega clinic.”  She tells him quietly. 

 

“I’ll contact Hill and Murphy?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll call in the cleaners and contact Morita.”

 

* * *

 

 

Bass snaps his phone to his ear and starts talking as soon as the call connects.

 

“Hey Dade, we’ve picked up the kids, we’re going to have to take the girl to medical.  Looks like her first heat set in while they were taken, she’s in a pretty bad way.”

 

He can almost hear Dade pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration from here.  The mans put upon sigh travels down the line causing Bass to smirk.  Dade Murphy had been his first TO within the Old Guard, he’s gotten him well trained in computer espionage and spy craft, the man knew his stuff but he was also a perfectionist with little to no patience for most of the shit he and Charlotte dealt with in the field. 

 

“Right, well, that is going to be a problem.  Right now we are running at code blue.  All public buildings are a no go for any of our charges.  Call Hill and let her have the final say on where to take the kids.  Is there anything else?”

 

“We found out why the kids were out of school yesterday and where they had been.  Charlotte found MJ’s bag, there were a stack of files in there.  We’ve scanned them and I’m sending them now to the secure server.  You were right about the Stark connection, but you are going to blow your mind on the rest of the crap in that file Dade.  I’m warning you now, it’s going to have to be bumped up the chain ASAP.  Also, from what we’ve seen, it looks like the kid and his girl are match bonded.”

 

“Oh for fuck’s sake.  Right, I’ll review the files immediately and have Miss Jones’ status altered.  It goes without saying that there can be no acceptable loss of either of the children in your care at this point.”

 

“What about Hogan?”

 

“Keep him with you if possible, but if push comes to shove I’m giving you standing orders make Mr Parker and Miss Jones the priority.”

 

“Understood.”  He said shortly, hanging up the call.  This day was just getting better and better.  A code fucking blue in Manhattan.  He dialed Hill’s number and waited. 

 

“Hill.”

 

“Maria, it’s Monroe, we have the kids and Hogan.  They’re both uninjured but the girl’s got her first heat and needs proper medical care.  Since code Blue is in effect where do we take them?”

 

“You can’t bring them to the Tower we just went into lockdown.  I can’t explain what’s happened yet.  You’ll have to drive the kids to the compound, I’ll hold off on the lockdown there till you arrive and organize a medical team for the girl.”

 

“Hill, just how much trouble are we looking at here?”

 

“Too early to tell, but we’re not taking any chances with any of Stark’s pack.  How is Happy?”

 

“He’s functional, took a nasty beating, but it’s nothing he can’t shrug off in a few days.”

 

“Can you put him on?  I think it would be best if I smoothed things over with him.”  Bass agrees and knocks on the back door of the SUV before opening it and handing Hogan the phone.

 

* * *

 

 

When the door opens and a tall man with dark golden curls steps through Peters senses go into overdrive.  Everything about him screams danger.  The strong scent of a power Alpha floods the room.  For a moment Peter loses control of his reaction and growls a warning.  As quick as it happens the man is suddenly pulled out of the room and the threat abates. 

 

Peter’s not sure what he was expecting next, but it wasn’t the sweet honey tones that met his ears.  The woman is average height, her dark blond hair is scraped back in a hair-tie.  When she speaks she sounds as calm and kind as Pepper but she also carries the same understated menace that Black Widow possesses.  He relaxes a little and takes in her words.  When he sees Happy standing in the hall, the Alpha clearly protecting him the relief pours through him.  He gathers up MJ in his arms when he sees that she’s shaking too much to walk.  Too late he hears the sudden intake of breath caused by the sight that greets them outside the room. 

 

There are guards lying dead on the floor, the whole place stinks of blood and decay already.  MJ shudders and he tells her not to look.  She presses her face into his shoulder and he tries to ignore the carnage.  He’s never seen death like this before.  The two strangers who have rescued them are brisk and professional, but he can’t get his mind to stop playing over the images of the dead bodies in the hall, of the many more they passed on the way out and of the man at the exit, glassy eyed in a pool of his own blood, his throat slit open so deep that Peter is sure he could see the glint of bone in the ruin of his neck.  Who the hell are these people? 

 

He lifts MJ into the car and listens as the two agents report in to their Bosses.  There seems to be a lot going on he is not aware of, but for right now the only thing he can afford to focus on is MJ.  The agents, although clearly very dangerous, are not a threat to him or MJ.  In the very back of his mind the Alpha sits watch before seeming to decide that they now have strong allies.  Trust springs up and he looks at the pair again.  They are light and golden on the outside, but filled by shadows within.  They have been tasked with his and MJ’s protection, he knows instinctively that they will do exactly that, even if it means their death.  The car starts and he pulls MJ more securely into his arms.  They were going to be fine.  They were safe for now and had two strong assassins as a close protection detail, and Happy was there.  He didn’t seem particularly thrilled but he had agreed to follow Maria Hill’s orders to accompany he and MJ to the compound. 

 

The man, Munro, glances at him in the rear-view mirror and they seem to have silent conversation.  Finally he nods and Monroe nods back.  He’ll stay back and follow their lead.  Agent Matheson passes water back to them and runs the back of her hand over MJ’s brow.  Her frown deepens and she tells him to try and get MJ to drink the water.  They had a long drive ahead, from the looks of it, they were taking a meandering and long route to the compound to ensure no one was tailing them.  Before long he feels his eyes begin to close, exhaustion sets in.  He can sleep though, he reasons, they’re safe.

 

The drive to the compound is strained.  The kids in the back seat both sleepy from shock at what happened.  When the compound finally comes in sight Bass breaths a grateful sigh of relief, Charlotte’s hand grasps him and he feels more grounded.  He’ll never say it out loud, but before he met her, he had been spiraling, deeper and deeper into a darkness he’s not sure he’d ever have been able to crawl out of.  He’d been months away from perhaps going feral.  She had saved him, he didn’t deserve her, but he really couldn’t give a fuck what anyone else thought, she was his, always.

**Author's Note:**

> Would love to hear what you think and if you have any questions or ideas feel free to comment or DM me.


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